Nations urge Ecuador to guarantee freedom of expression

Stressing concerns of human rights groups about the deterioration
of press conditions under the administration of President Rafael Correa, 17 members
of the United Nations submitted recommendations to Ecuador on freedom of expression
issues before the U.N. Human
Rights Council this week. While Ecuador tried to pass off the criticism as
resulting from ignorance, the states' observations made clear that the
international community is fully aware of Correa's repressive tactics against
the local media.

Using a mechanism known as the Universal
Periodic Review, established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2006, U.N.
member states assess the degree to which countries are fulfilling their
international human rights obligations. Under this procedure, states have the
right to raise questions and make recommendations to the government of the
country under review; each state is reviewed every four years. The process provides
the opportunity to redress human rights violations, and requires governments to
publicly state which recommendations they will implement. Non-governmental
organizations can submit their own reports and recommendations, which are compiled
by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and can be utilized by
member states.

Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, the United
States, Slovakia, Latvia, Luxemburg, Norway, France, India, Sweden, Switzerland,
Costa Rica, and the United Kingdom all introduced
recommendations Monday before the Council, most of them related to
Ecuadoran legislation that criminalizes speech.

Most of the recommendations, 12 out of 17, came from
European states. Belgium was the first one to speak
out: "We have reports on freedom of expression abuses, the improper use of
criminal law, persecution of journalists..., we expect the compliance with
international law on freedom of expression and that the visit of the rapporteur
on freedom of expression will be accepted." Correa likely paid close attention;
he studied economics in Belgium, and his wife is a Belgian native.

The U.S. and Europe expressed concern about the use of
criminal defamation laws against government critics; Switzerland said
the Ecuadoran press is working in a climate of censorship; and Sweden
expressed alarm over the conviction
of three executives and the former opinion editor of the leading national daily
El Universo.

The Ecuadoran delegation to Geneva was made up of more than 100
officials, including Vice-President Lenin Moreno Garcés and Foreign Affairs
Minister Ricardo Patiño. The latter said "ignorance" was the reason behind
international criticism. "Those who travel to Ecuador will realize how freedom
of expression is respected and promoted," Patiño said, according to press
reports.

Ecuador has until September to identify which
recommendations the government will accept or reject -- the Human Rights
Council will officially adopt an "outcome statement" at that time. But
Ecuadoran officials said they anticipate responding as soon as Friday.

CPJ
research shows that Correa's administration has led Ecuador into an era of
widespread repression by systematically filing defamation lawsuits and smearing
critics.

CPJ, together with PEN International and Fundamedios, an Ecuadoran press freedom
organization, submitted
a report for consideration before the U.N. Human Rights Council. Among our
joint recommendations, we called on Ecuadoran authorities to stop the use of
outdated criminal defamation laws to silence critical journalists, editors, and
media executives; repeal criminal defamation laws or enact superseding
defamation laws that meet international standards of freedom of expression; and
halt the use of retaliatory civil defamation lawsuits that silence critical
journalists and have a chilling effect on expression by demanding
disproportionate damages.

Last week, together with CPJ Senior Adviser Jean-Paul
Marthoz, Fundamedios Executive Director César Ricaurte, and the group's project
director, Mauricio Alarcón, I traveled to Geneva, the headquarters of the U.N.
Human Rights Council, to meet with diplomats prior to Ecuador's review. We also
stopped in Brussels to visit European deputies and members of the EU Commission
responsible for relations with Andean countries. During these meetings, we
expressed our concern about the grave damage done to free expression in Ecuador
by the government's pattern of subjecting critical journalists to long and
debilitating legal reprisals.

Latin American diplomats in Geneva are fully aware of the
situation, yet no countries from the region except Costa Rica presented
observations before the Council. While disappointing, the decision by Latin
America to keep silent about the official repression against the Ecuadoran
press came as no surprise. As CPJ's executive director noted in his introductory
essay to CPJ's Attacks on the Press
in 2010, the Organization of American States, "which has been paralyzed by
ideological battles in Latin America, rarely speaks out on press freedom
violations."

CPJ Senior Americas Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría, a native of Buenos Aires, is a widely published journalist who has written extensively for Noticias, the leading Spanish-language newsmagazine.
Follow him on Facebook @ CPJ en Español.

Comments

Regardless of whether this blog is sponsored by actual journalists, media conglomerates, newspaper owners or political players, it would be more credible if the article was factual. For example, name journalists in Ecuador that are or have been imprisoned, and how many media outlets have been closed for political reasons during the current government. Also, try to investigate how many families own the majority of the media groups in Ecuador, or the political influence and privileges that they formerly enjoyed. And finally, most real journalists would arrive to the conclusion that only the progressive Latin American governments are being targeted in this "freedom of expression" fallacy. Wouldn't you agree that this is all an ideological battle of the conservative elites? Their struggle to maintain their political power in Latin America?